Chelsea have offered Lyon £3.3m to recall Emerson Palmieri early, though the French club are still playing hardball according to reports.
The Blues are in desperate need of cover at left-back after Ben Chilwell was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, leaving Marcos Alonso as the club’s only available left-back.
With Chelsea still competing in five competitions, including next month’s Club World Cup, the club had explored the possibility of signing a new player and were even linked with Lucas Digne.
But the Everton defender now looks likely to join Aston Villa and instead Thomas Tuchel has been pushing to bring Emerson back from his loan early.
The Italian star is on a season-long loan with Lyon, where he has impressed, and the Ligue 1 club are reluctant to allow him leave.
According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, the French club have already rejected two approaches from Chelsea with their latest compensation offer having been worth £3.3m.
That represents a huge fee to pay for a player Chelsea already own simply to return him to the club six months early, but it is seen as the least expensive option.
Chelsea have been linked with other full-backs, such as Barcelona’s defender Sergino Dest, Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico & AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez, but all would command huge transfer fees and would likely only be second choice behind Chilwell when he returns to fitness.
While Lyon are standing firm over Emerson, other reports in France claim they are already lining up a replacement for the former Roma star.
The French team are looking at PSG left-back Layvin Kurzawa, who has fallen down to fourth choice in Mauricio Pochettino’s pecking order this campaign.
Asked about recalling Emerson, Tuchel said at the end of December: ‘We are looking into it because we now have a new situation with Ben Chilwell so of course we look into whether we can do something and what we can do.
‘One of the possibilities and the players we know and that we love as a person is Emerson but we need to check. We are not into details. We are discussing and reflecting and this will go on for the coming days, maybe weeks.’
